Dedicated

AN: Never thought I'd be writing another Castle fanfic, but hey, never thought they would get rid of Kate Beckett either.

"To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th"

They were having a lazy Saturday, something that was incredibly rare for the two of them. So far, the murderers of New York had given them a much needed break to just spend some time together at home. Rather than ordering take out like they'd done for numerous nights straight because of their busy schedules, Castle decided to cook dinner for them. He shooed Kate out of the kitchen, telling her she deserved some rest after the amount of work she'd had over the week.

She, of course, pointed out that he'd been by her side the whole time and had done just as much work. He ignored her and practically pushed her from the kitchen.

"Kate, dinner's ready!" Castle called from the kitchen as he pulled two plates down from the cabinet. He made himself busy plating their food and then pouring their drinks.

When he sat their dinner and cups down at the table she his wife still wasn't in the kitchen, he furrowed her brow a little. "Kate?" He asked, walking toward his office where she'd disappeared a little while ago.

He found her curled up in his desk chair, Heat Wave open on her lap. She had that adorable look of concentration on her face as he watched her read over the page. He smiled as she leaned against the doorframe. "Just can't get enough of my books, can you?"

She jumped a little as she looked up at him. "Hm?"

He chuckled at her. "Dinner's ready."

"Oh." She said, glancing back down at the book before closing it and setting it aside. "Okay."

"That the hundredth time you've read it?"

She rolled her eyes with a small smile. "You wish, babe. Maybe if it were a Patterson novel…"

"Ouch, Beckett."

She laughed, sitting up in the chair. "I was rearranging my books on the shelf and got distracted."

"By my books?" He teased.

"The dedications."

"Oh."

She smiled at him and then looked back down at the book, shrugging a little. "They're sweet and…I'm still caught off guard by them sometimes."

"Off guard?" He straightened up from where he was leaning against the doorframe and walked over to her, taking a seat on the edge of his desk in front of her.

She nodded, looking up at him.

"I meant every one."

Kate smiled and leaned forward to gently rest her hand on his knee. "I know you did. I think you just give me too much credit sometimes."

"Too much credit? Kate, you don't get enough credit."

She furrowed her brow a little, looking at him. "You're the writer, Castle. Not me."

Castle shook his head with a small smile. "Yeah, but without you I wouldn't have written anything after Derrick Storm."

"That's not true." She said. "You would have eventually thought of something."

He shook his head again. "You don't understand how…lost I was in my writing. Nothing excited me, nothing made me want to spend hours writing. That was, until you marched up to me with your badge and your cute little haircut."

She rolled her eyes. "That haircut was cute."

He laughed and nodded. "It was. You were so young."

"So were you." She smiled.

He looked at her, catching her gaze for a moment before leaning forward to kiss her softly. Kate smiled into the kiss, her hand coming up to rest on the back of his neck.

"I'm serious, through." He murmured, causing her to pull back a little. She looked at him in confusion. "I wouldn't be the person I am today without Nikki Heat."

"The character you created."

"That you inspired." He said. "A writer is nothing without his muse."

She smiled, that almost shy smile that he found absolutely adorable, and looked back down at the book in her lap. She traced her finger over Nikki's silhouette on the cover and then down over the letters in his name. "I still think Nikki Heat sounds like a stripper."

He laughed. "That's okay. She's still kind of slutty."

Kate shook her head with a smile.

"Like her inspiration." Castle smirked.

She looked back up at him and pushed at his shoulder. "Hey!"

"Oh, come on. I'm not wrong."

She shook her head and stood up. "No, babe," Kate said, resting her hands on his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, smiling at the feel of her belly pressed against him. "but you shouldn't say that in front of the baby."

Castle laughed a little and stood after a moment, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Sorry, honey." He laid his hand on her belly. "Don't listen to me, baby."

"Yeah," She rested her hand over his. "Daddy's crazy."

"Not as crazy as mommy." She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. He sighed. "Mommy's not crazy, only daddy is."

She looked down at their hands and laced their fingers together. "Daddy's also sweet and funny…and immature." Kate smiled up at him.

He watched her for a moment before looking back down at their joined hands over her belly. "Your mommy is maddening, and frustrating…and so very extraordinary."

After a moment she moved her hand from his to lift up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck gently before kissing him. He pulled her closer before she broke the kiss, her forehead resting against her chin. "Baby's hungry." She muttered.

He chuckled and nodded, rubbing her back gently. "Let's go get you guys something to eat. Dinner's probably getting cold."

She nodded and pulled back from him. She reached down and picked the book up from the chair, walking over to the bookshelf to carefully push it into the empty space beside the rest of the Nikki Heat series.

Castle smiled as he watched her run her fingers along the sides before turning to follow him from his office.

"To KB: May the dance never end and the music never stop."

AN: Because Richard Castle is nothing without Kate Beckett.